It's no coincidence that these two new memos were quietly released just as Hodges was crying foul and accusing the memos of being forgeries. The way I see it, there's two possibilites why he's backpedaling:

(1) Bush/Rove realized that he was the source and have threatened him or his family. Nothing new for the BFEE.

(2) The backpedaling is a ruse, and Rather/Hodges are playing the other media networks like a fiddle. This is much more likely. Rather knew that the wingnuts would accuse the documents of being forgeries instead of addressing their contents, so he set them up. Let them cry forgery for a few days, let the rumors spread, then have his "top source" Bobby Hodges accuse CBS of fraud to fan the flames. Then, release other documents, prove the Killian memos are authentic and watch Bush/Rove go down in flames. 100:1 bets Rather has OTHER documents and their release is imminent. The reason these two memos were released by USAToday instead of by CBS directly is so the wingnuts can't accuse CBS of forgery anymore. Clearly, USAToday has had their own experts vet the new documents and are convinced of their authenticity. Rather is now going into battle with an ally at his side. Absolutely brilliant.

Originally posted by CNNThree document experts who were asked by CBS News to examine memos alleging that President Bush received special treatment during his service in the Texas Air National Guard told CNN Tuesday that they did not authenticate the documents -- and one said the network "ignored" her reservations about them before a "60 Minutes" broadcast last week.

Emily Will, a document examiner in North Carolina who said she examined two of the documents for CBS News prior to the broadcast, said she "had serious questions" about their authenticity, although she did not reach a definitive conclusion about whether they were fabrications.

Will told CNN she had concerns about signatures on the documents, as well as the type of the text and the content. She told ABC News that she questioned whether the memos could have been produced by a typewriter and found "five significant differences" in the questioned handwriting.